I recently bought a Zastava M70 pistol in 9mm and I'd like your help on 2 issues:

The gun has several electro-pencil handwritten marks (A letter and 4 digits), inside the magazine well, on the barrel and inside the slide. I'd like to know what does these marks mean. They're not related with the serial number.

My gun maks the primers of the spent casings with big gouging marks (primer drag). As far as my research went, these marks are common to the Tokarev design and are nothing to worry about, but I'm afraid this can over-stress the firing pin shortening its life.
Any thoughts on this?
How many rounds am I expecting to get from my gun?
Do your guns do primer drag?
How many rounds do your guns have?
Did someone had to change the firing pin?

I don't have a M70A so I really can't help you much, but I do have it's "father," a M57 (7.62×25), and it's been a solid pistol.

I have never heard of a M70A having that problem but that doesn't mean it can't happen. I have read where it has happened with a 1911 and the suspected cause was a light recoil spring. On a 1911, if the firing pin spring is weak of in some way defective the firing pin may stay in contact with the primer longer than normal, also if the main spring is weak that will also allow the slide to unlock earlier. It can also be caused by hot loads.

I don't have a M70A so I really can't help you much, but I do have it's "father," a M57 (7.62×25), and it's been a solid pistol.

I have never heard of a M70A having that problem but that doesn't mean it can't happen. I have read where it has happened with a 1911 and the suspected cause was a light recoil spring. On a 1911, if the firing pin spring is weak of in some way defective the firing pin may stay in contact with the primer longer than normal, also if the main spring is weak that will also allow the slide to unlock earlier. It can also be caused by hot loads.

Hopefully one of those areas are the cause of your issues.

Cheers! M2

Hello majormadmax,

Thank you for your reply.

I'm using reloaded ammo but they're far from hot loads. I'm sending a 124gr bullet at 1034 fps, generating a 128 power factor.

The 2 cases on the left were fired on my CZ Shadow 2, while the 2 on the right were fired on the Zastava M70. Same load on all 4 rounds.

And if you read post #5 in this thread, he claims "I took the barrel and spring assembly from my M70A and put it in my TTC and fired 9mm luger just fine" so there is a chance they are interchangeable...

And if you read post #5 in this thread, he claims "I took the barrel and spring assembly from my M70A and put it in my TTC and fired 9mm luger just fine" so there is a chance they are interchangeable...